Nicholas Clark <n...@ccl4.org> writes: > So I'd like to know, if a programmer on VMS sets $/ to read records, but on > a file handle marked with :utf8, what do they want? > > (and if the answer is "their head examining", that's actually useful, as it > means that the least insane thing to implement is what we get)
In VMS, and its predecessor RSX, the purpose of a file with fixed width records has always been that you can easily and efficiently retrieve a specific record at all times. These files were often referred to as 'random access files'. Random access files typically didn't have record terminators. In flat files systems, you can find record NNN by seeking to position NNN*width, and seeking loses its efficiency when done on characters. -- Johan
